'Plus-size' model Laura Wells has revealed the extreme dieting measures taken by her model roommates to prepare for Fashion Week.

The size 14 beauty lived with a group of standard 'skinnier' models during her stint working in New York, and says that their agents instructed them to stick to a diet of 'one cracker and a couple of glasses of water'.

Agents and fashion houses that hire them could also face fines under the new law, which was passed on April 3.

The move by France, with its fashion and luxury industries worth tens of billions of euros, comes after a similar ban by Israel in 2013, while other countries, like Italy and Spain, rely on voluntary codes of conduct to protect models.

Diet: Laura (pictured with Sarah Wilson, right) revealed that there was 'no food being eaten, and prescription dietary pills' being consumed by her model friends in New York

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The measure is part of a campaign against anorexia by President Francois Hollande's government.

Lawmakers also made it illegal to condone anorexia and said any re-touched photo that alters the bodily appearance of a model for commercial purposes must carry a message stating it had been manipulated.

'The activity of model is banned for any person whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels proposed by health authorities and decreed by the ministers of health and labour,' the legislation says.

The lawmaker behind the bill previously said models would have to present a medical certificate showing a BMI of at least 18, about 55 kg (121 lb) for a height of 1.75 metres (5.7 feet), before being hired for a job and for a few weeks afterwards.

Dangerous: Wells' comments come days after France passed a law banning excessively thin models from the catwalk, with agents and fashion houses to face fines and imprisonment if they don't comply

The law, voted through the lower house of parliament by Hollande's Socialist majority despite opposition by conservative parliamentarians, envisages imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of 75,000 euros ($82,000) for any agency contravening it.

In the AWW video interview, Laura Wells recalls wanting to 'punch' a model scout when they suggested she could get work as a plus-size model.

The 177-centimetre beauty was studying science and law when she was spotted in New York City by talent scouts in 2005.

She said she felt insulted the first time she was asked to be a plus-sized model because of her misconceptions about the term.

'I thought they were calling me fat': Laura also revealed that she was initially insulted by the suggestion she should be a plus-size model, and admits she wanted to punch the model scout